2021 Transition binder two: Gender-based analysis Plus
2. Gender-Based Analysis Plus (GBA Plus)
Gender-Based Analysis Plus (GBA Plus) Overview
Background
Gender-based Analysis Plus (GBA Plus) is an analytical tool used to support the development of responsive and inclusive policies, programs, and other initiatives. GBA Plus is a process for understanding who is impacted by the issue or opportunity being addressed by the initiative; identifying how the initiative could be tailored to meet diverse needs of the people most impacted; and anticipating and mitigating any barriers to accessing or benefitting from the initiative. GBA Plus is an intersectional analysis that goes beyond biological (sex) and socio-cultural (gender) differences to consider other factors, such as age, disability, education, ethnicity, economic status, geography, language, race, religion, and sexual orientation.
As a centre of excellence for GBA Plus, Women and Gender Equality Canada plays the following roles:
- Increases awareness and understanding of, and commitment to, GBA Plus as key lever for gender equality, diversity and inclusion;
- Provides guidance, develops tools and training, and creates and strengthens existing infrastructure to enhance capacity and improve expertise for GBA Plus across federal departments and agencies and in other gender and inclusion mainstreaming initiatives;
- Strengthens an evidence-based approach by increasing capacity for GBA Plus and related tools/techniques, including gender budgeting, to assess differential impacts applying GBA Plus to identify issues and inform priorities;
- Brokers relationships, and creates channels and forums between a broad range of actors to capture new knowledge, including finding and disseminating good practices; and,
- Acts as a hub for GBA Plus knowledge and expertise and create spaces and opportunities to harness new ideas to develop solutions and enable innovation.
Foundational GBA Plus training is available in both official languages to government officials and the general public through the course, Introduction to GBA+, on the Department’s website. Additional training is available through Canada School of Public Service’s GBA Plus Premium course .
In November 2018, the Department hosted the first GBA Plus Forum with the objective of facilitating an international dialogue on improving the effectiveness and impact of GBA Plus, and creating a space for sharing best practices, challenges and successes. More than 1,000 in-person and online participants from all levels of government, and civil society, including non-governmental organizations, academics, leaders from the private sector and international stakeholders, took part in this event. Input received during the Forum provided valuable insights into how the Government of Canada can continue to advance gender equality and inclusion, in collaboration with governmental and civil society partners and stakeholders.
Current Status
Federal departments and agencies are currently required to integrate GBA Plus into all Memoranda to Cabinet, Treasury Board Submissions, federal budget proposals, and regulations. Further, GBA Plus is now included in key legislation, including, the Impact Assessment Act, Immigration and Refugee Protection Act and Accessible Canada Act. In addition, through annual Departmental Plans and Departmental Results Reports, all federal departments and agencies are required to apply GBA Plus to existing program expenditures.
Various governance structures have been put in place to support departments and agencies and ensure they remain accountable for their GBA Plus requirements. This includes a GBA Plus Champions Network, an Interdepartmental Committee on GBA Plus, and Federal-Provincial-Territorial GBA Plus Task Teams. Further, capacity to undertake robust GBA Plus continues to grow and the availability of disaggregated data allowing for quality analysis is increasingly available.
In April 2021, the Office of the Auditor General (OAG) publicly released their performance audit plan for the 2021-22 year, which included an audit of GBA Plus and Inclusiveness. The audit will be the third audit of GBA Plus by the OAG. Previous audits were conducted in 2009 and in 2015. The final report for the 2021-22 audit is anticipated to be tabled by the Auditor General in 2022.
GBA Plus - Concrete Impacts on Policies, Programs and Services
GBA Plus and Airport Security
The Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) applied GBA Plus to the Primary Inspection Kiosks, which were created to improve border services for international travellers at Canada’s busiest airports. Throughout the planning phase, GBA Plus was used to inform the design and operation of the kiosk, to ensure that no group would be unfairly disadvantaged by the technology. GBA Plus was used to develop a mitigation strategy, where travellers with match scores below a requirement are subject to visual inspection.
GBA Plus and Health Research
Research has found that sex and, gender are key variables in explaining many health conditions. The Canadian Institutes of Health Research requires researchers who apply for funding to integrate GBA Plus into their research design.
GBA Plus and Climate Change
GBA Plus has been applied to key initiatives in Canada’s approach to climate change, as research shows that climate change impacts people differently depending on multiple intersecting factors. GBA Plus is being applied to the federal government’s climate initiatives, in order to maximize positive benefits for those most impacted by the negative effects of climate change, including low-income Canadians, women, Indigenous communities, and people living in rural and remote areas. GBA Plus has also been applied to Canada’s Feminist International Assistance Policy, in recognition that women living in poverty disproportionately experience the impacts of climate change.
Gender Budgeting
Background
Studies by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) have demonstrated gender gaps, for example, in labour market participation, entrepreneurship, remuneration, representation in senior management positions in both the public and private sectors, health outcomes, and education. As a means to address these gaps, countries (including Belgium, Finland, Iceland, Israel, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Spain, Sweden and others) have started to mainstream gender in their budgetary process. This is known as gender budgeting.
As a leader on the issue of gender budgeting, the OECD defines gender budgeting as “integrating a clear gender perspective within the overall context of the budgetary process, through the use of special processes and analytical tools, with a view to promoting gender-responsive policies”. This analysis allows the government to promote equality through fiscal policy and allocate resources accordingly.
Budget 2017 provided the first ever Gender Budget Statement and included information on the impact of current budget measures on diverse populations. In addition, in Budget 2018, the Gender Results Framework was introduced as a tool with which federal budget decisions were made and upon which the gender analysis of the annual budget would be based. Budget 2019 moved further by providing Canadians access to the Budget 2019 Gender report, a publication of comprehensive GBA Plus summaries for each budget measure.
In addition, the Canadian Gender Budget Act came into force in December 2018 and enshrines gender budgeting in the federal government’s budgetary and financial management process. The Act has three key requirements:
Report — new budget measures
The Minister of Finance must table, before each House of Parliament, on any of the first 30 days on which that House is sitting after the day on which a budget plan is tabled in Parliament, a report on the impacts in terms of gender and diversity of all new budget measures described in the plan, if an assessment of the impacts is not included in the budget plan or any related documents that the Minister has made public.
Analysis — tax expenditures
Once a year, the Minister of Finance must make available to the public analysis of impacts in terms of gender and diversity of the tax expenditures, such as tax exemptions, deductions or credits that the Minister considers appropriate.
Analysis — programs
Once a year, the President of the Treasury Board must make available to the public analysis of impacts in terms of gender and diversity of the existing Government of Canada expenditure programs that the President, in consultation with the Minister of Finance, considers appropriate.
The impact of gender budgeting is monitored annually through the Gender Results Framework indicators. Finance Canada includes analysis of progress on the indicators in the Gender Equality Statement of federal budgets. WAGE works with Finance Canada on the implementation of the Canadian Gender Budgeting Act and the drafting of the Gender Equality Statement as the Government of Canada’s centre of expertise on gender equality.
Early evidence of how GBA Plus is applied to budget measures suggests budgeting helps to ensure that budget measures are more responsive to the needs of diverse groups of Canadians. For example, below are two initiatives from federal Budget 2019 in which the budget noted that a “GBA Plus responsive approach” resulted in a more inclusive initiative:
- GBA Plus was applied to the proposed extension of paid parental leave for student researchers, from 6 months maximum to 12 months. The GBA Plus found that the average age of these researchers coincided with the average age of individuals welcoming a child into their family. The proposed extension would thus provide more flexibility to integrate research training with family responsibilities and the increase the participation of women in research careers, particularly in science, technology, engineering and mathematics fields.
- Similarly, GBA Plus was applied to a proposed expansion of the Canada Service Corps, which provides service opportunities for youth across the country to develop new skills and leadership experience. The GBA Plus identified underrepresented groups (e.g., young men and boys, Indigenous youth), and the expansion included measures to reduce barriers to underrepresented youth, including dedicated funding for service projects focussed on reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples, targeted outreach to young men and boys, as well as new incentives and program supports.